Samantha Tan

Samantha Tan (right) with her ST Racing team-mate, Aurora Straus

Samantha Tan is a Canadian driver who races in the Pirelli World Challenge in the USA. She has made her way through the Touring classes to the GTS class.

She raced in the Canadian Touring Car Championship in 2014. Her car was a Mini Cooper, and she was fifth in the Touring class, and ninth overall. Her best finish was fourth, at Mirabel, and she was usually in the top ten. This was quite remarkable, given that she was only 17 years old, and in her first full season of motorsport.

Previously, she had only done a little NASA stock car racing in 2014, with some success. She had been interested in cars from a very early age and was one of the youngest people ever to take part in the Ferrari Driving Experience at Mont Tremblant.

In 2015, she raced in the Pirelli World Challenge for the first time. She was driving a Kia Forte Koup run by Kinetic Motorsport. Despite a bumpy start at Circuit of the Americas, where she did not finish any of her three races, she had a decent season, with fourth spots at Mosport and Miller. She was sixth in the championship.

Mid-season, she also found time for some rounds of the CTCC, in a Mini, scoring one third place at Toronto from three starts.

Most of 2016 was spent in the Pirelli World Challenge, where she drove a Honda Civic in the TCA class. She was sixth in the class championship, with a best finish of sixth and a consistent finishing record. Her form was slightly better in the early part of the season.

Late in the season, she made two guest appearances in the CTCC, and was fifth and seventh at Bowmanville.

A third season in the World Challenge in 2017, driving a BMW, proved difficult. Her best finishes were two fourteenth places at Circuit of the Americas and she was 29th overall. This was her first year in the TC class and was a step-up in power. TCA is a lower horsepower, “limited preparation” class, while TC allows cars up to TCR spec to compete.

In 2018, she decided to remain with ST Racing, her team from 2017. She drove a BMW M4 in the GTS class of the World Challenge with Nick Wittmer. They were fifth and third in the first two races at Circuit of the Americas, their best results of the year. Samantha was 16th in the championship.

She stuck with BMW power for 2019 but moved up to the GT4 class. She was second in the Pirelli GT4 America West Pro-Am class with two seconds and four thirds, partnered by Jason Wolfe. Driving solo, she was 19th in the Sprint category, after one fifth place at Long Beach.

Her GT4 adventures continued in 2020 with her first trip to Dubai for the 24 Hour race. The event was red-flagged and stopped after seven hours due to the track being flooded. Samantha and her three ST Racing team-mates were running seventh in the GT4 class at the time.

Coronavirus put paid to a good proportion of the 2020 season, but Samantha still managed to race the M4. She entered the Pirelli GT4 SprintX America championship, racing in the Silver class. ST Racing's drivers were crowned Silver champions at the end of the year, ahead of Andretti Autosport, with four wins. Samantha and Jon Miller were third in the SprintX drivers' championship with two seconds and four thirds. One of these was at the Indianapolis eight-hour race, where she was second in the overall GT4 class and third in SprintX.

The ST team went worldwide in 2021. Their first race was the Dubai 24 Hours, the first big race of the year. A team of Samantha, Jon Miller, Chandler Hill and Nick Wittmer were 15th overall and first GT4 car, driving the BMW. 

The Abu Dhabi 6 Hours was also in January. Samantha and Jon Miller were fourth overall and won their class after a close battle with the Sally Racing Cupra. 

Through the Hankook 24H GT Series season, Samantha and her team won their class four more times at Hockenheim, Catalunya and the Hungaroring. That, plus second places at Mugello and Sebring, was enough to bring home the GT4 championship.

She raced two cars in 2022, the BMW and a Ferrari. She used the BMW for endurance racing again, entering part of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America and the GT Intercontinental Challenge as well as some 24H Series races. Her best finishes were a fifth and fourth at Sonoma in the Fanatec series. Her 24H Series successes came in Europe, with a combined GT3 and Pro-Am win in the Mugello race being a highlight of her year, after another finish in the Dubai 24 Hours. 

She racked up another Pro-Am win in the Ferrari Challenge at Circuit of the Americas, followed by a second place at Daytona.

Most of 2023 was spent racing the BMW in the Fanatec GT Challenge America. She and her ST Racing team-mate Neil Verhagen won the Pro-Am class once at Road America and Samantha scored four further podiums, on the way to fourth in the championship. The Ferrari was stationed in Europe for the GT Challenge Europe and ST Racing's results were similar. Samantha, assisted by Lorcan Hanafin and Isaac Tutumlu Lopez, won the final round of the season at Catalunya. The team finished on the Pro-Am podium in all five races. 

With all this action, she still had time for a few races in the NLS, driving a BMW M240i in the one-make series for it. She won round six with her two team-mates and finished on the podium in the other two races. 

(Image copyright Sean Krinik)